


Once Upon A Time In A Dark, Seedy Back-Alley

by Enina



Series: Singularity [2]
Category: The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Barry is around 17, Barry tries to offer his help, First Meetings, Gen, Len around 22, Len hasn't a good night, Violence, both are younger, it is not appreciated, lots of swearing, part of the Singularity universe, shitty weather, starting out as a criminal sucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 12:08:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17283806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enina/pseuds/Enina
Summary: Len is not yet established as a big fish in the Gems seedy underbelly. Or even a small fish. That can lead to uncomfortable situations, especially when the Candyman thinks he tried to fuck with him.Suprisingly, next to a trashing, the night holds also an unexpected but fateful meeting. Not that Len cares all too much about that just then. He would rather have a beer.Part of the Singularity universe.





	Once Upon A Time In A Dark, Seedy Back-Alley

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quintessenzza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quintessenzza/gifts).



> This little ficlet is not edited. I still hope I was able to get rid of the majority of the mistakes. I surely missed some, so please feel free to point them out to me.
> 
> It is a little gift for my editor and friend Quintessenzza. He has accompanied me for the majority of the journey to write Singularity and made the story all the more enjoyable because of it. Thank you so much, my dear friend! :)
> 
> Also, this is not the preview chapter for the second part of Singularity (now titled Singularity: Convergence). Just a little extra to celebrate the new year.
> 
> Warnings: some physical violence (poor Len gets beaten up)

* * *

The damn weather couldn't get any worse if it were starting to pour piss.

Len hates winter in the Gems. He hates cold weather, period.

The icy rain that will likely make way to snow in a couple of days, only adds to this already miserable night.

Len tries to dodge the punch Carter aims at him and fails as badly as he did with the last one Peterson decked him with.

Fuck this damn city and its wretched weather. Fuck it and the backstabbing scum of thugs that made it their home turf. So much to honor among criminals. Not that Len every bought into that shit.

If he had known the damn heist would end in him being beaten into a pulp at some back-alley close to the Keys, he would have stayed home with Lisa.

Fuck him and his rotten luck.

No.

Fuck those bozos. Them and the Candyman, and their belief they can fuck with _him_ because he hasn't made a name for himself yet.

Something hard collides with the back of his head. It causes his vision to go blurry momentarily.

There goes his sense for up and down.

His knees nearly give out under him-

Scratch that.

Another punch follows, straight to his guts and with some gusto behind it.

He groans and collapses.

To be fair, three against one had the odds stacked against him from the very beginning.

Fuck this.

Len lands hard on his side. He hardly can regain his breath from the latest punch when he gets another steel cap boot into his stomach.

Damn, that hurts.

It's probably a good thing he hasn't eaten anything in the last couple of hours.

He coils up, knees up to his chest, arms over his head.

They keep kicking him for a while longer.

At least, they aren't of the chatty kind. Fuck him if he had to listen to their lame attempts of being funny in addition to getting the crap beaten out of him.

Someone kicks the back of his head. Hard.

Len feels his body go slack for a second, and briefly, he worries that this could turn into something else, something far more permanent than a simple _warning_.

The assault stops, then.

Apparently, his mates have enough. Or rather, believe he had enough and learned his lesson.

Fuck those bastards.

"Don't try to go behind the Candyman's back again, Snart," Carter, that son of a bitch, tells him. "He won't let you get off this easy again."

They don't stick around to wait for a reply. That's good. Len isn't sure whether he is in the state to give them one. His mind feels foggy, and even just telling them to go fuck themselves seems like way too difficult of a task just then.

The rain hasn't let up yet. Len feels it drum against his side and his head, hitting his face with a biting coldness.

He should have stayed at home.

Fuck his brilliant decision to take Carter up on the offer to join them for their next job.

The icy wetness of the rain soaks through his pants, causing him to shiver.

Len rolls onto his back and immediately regrets it.

A nearly overwhelming flash of hot-white pain fills his head, seems to threaten to break it apart. It makes him feels like throwing up.

At least he doesn't have to be anywhere tomorrow. The thought causes him to snort. Bad idea, his head flares up in agony once more. He grits his teeth and decides to keep lying there for another moment or two. Just let his head stop throbbing as if one of those damn creatures from that horror flick his sister likes so much tried to burst out of it. What was it again? _Alien_ or something. No idea why his baby sister loves watching those movies. Aren't girls supposed to like romantic and cutesy stuff?

Len shivers and wonders what's the chance for him to freeze to death should he decide to spend the night here, on the dirty, freezing ground.

Not that he has that luxury. Lisa would probably come after him to nag his ear off for leaving her behind-

"Y-You're okay?"

Len freezes.

He's really out of it if he let someone sneak up on him.

Fuck his luck.

Grimacing, Len squints towards where the voice originated from. A young, uncertain sounding voice that, as he can see now, belongs to a young and very uncertain looking teenage boy.

Great.

Gritting his teeth, he grunts, "Peachy." He rolls onto his side again and forces himself in an upright position. He ignores how his arms nearly give out under him as he does so.

Damn, his right shoulder is pretty banged up too.

He will get back to Carter for this. Carter and Candyman's other lackeys who believe they can fuck with him. Shitheads probably stole that rock themselves and used him as a scapegoat.

"D-Do... should I c-call an ambulance?" The teenager still sounds unsure about how to handle the situation he is finding himself in right now.

Len has no idea why that idiot bothered to approach him in the first place.

They aren't in the Keys, but they are close. Nobody with a functioning brain between their ears would go and annoy someone like him under the current circumstances.

"Fuck off," Len tells the guy, and he doesn't try to hide how little patience he has for this unwanted good Samaritan right now.

The teen, idiot he is, just keeps standing there. It causes Lens knuckles to itch, but he decides to ignore him. He has more urgent matters to attend to. Getting up and going is at the top of that list.

Fucking rain. He's already drenched. It would be just his luck if he caught himself a cold on top of everything else.

Grunting, Len pushes himself onto his knees, pauses there for a moment, and forces himself to get up all the way.

For a second, his body seems fine with it. Then the world around him starts to spin, and, yeah, he's pretty sure he has a concussion.

This evening is just getting better and better.

Someone touches his upper arm. It's faint, hardly there, a well-meant attempt to steady him while at the same time cautious.

Len punches the idiot before he even realizes he clenches his fist.

There is a pained cry, short and breathless, and he watches with some satisfaction how the blond moron stumbles back before losing his footing and landing on his ass. Good for him. Maybe that will knock some sense into him.

Len's amusement is only short-lived, though.

Wide, frightened blue eyes stare up at him. The kid has frozen up at the spot he dropped, his expression lacking any anger. His face shows only unadulterated terror.

For some reason, that doesn't sit well with Len. He is no stranger to putting the fear of God into people that get on his bad side.

That guy did want to help him, despite how clumsy his attempt was and how obviously out of his depth he is.

Not many people have ever done so. Other than of Lisa, Len can't think of anybody.

How fucking sad is that? It either speaks volumes about what kind of world they live in or about him.

Len is pretty sure it's both.

The boy's nose isn't bleeding which means that it probably isn't broken. Good. He probably will carry a shiner around with himself the next couple of days but nothing worse.

"Don't meddle with stuff that isn't any of your business, kid," Len tells the still pretty petrified looking teen, who hasn't moved at all from his position on the ground.

Briefly, Len feels the sudden urge to ask the brat whether he's okay. He's the reason why the kid looks close to fainting, after all.

 _Serves the idiot right_ , Len thinks grimly, forcing himself to let go of that ridiculous idea of offering help. Why the hell should he look after dumb teenagers? If the boy has a deathwish, it's his own damn business.

Len turns away from the sky-blue eyes and the fear they hold, ignoring the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, and makes his way out of the back-alley and onto the main street.

Damn kid.

He needs a drink.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this little fic about Len meeting Barry for the first time. I guess you all realized that the frightened blond teen with the sky-blue eyes was Barry. ;)
> 
> I was talking with Quintessenzza the other day, mentioning how Len and Barry met when they were younger, years before the (second) Flash or Captain Cold were a thing. How this meeting would stick to Len while Barry forgot about it entirely (which will come up in the main story), and he said he would like to read that scene. It's nothing elaborate or special, just a little fun piece. Len, of course, has to prove what a charmer he is once again. Poor Barry, but Len probably was right that he shouldn't stick his nose into business that doesn't concern him. Especially not in a place like the Keys or somewhere close to it.
> 
> You've probably noticed that I posted this as part of a series. I decided to call the series 'Singularity' and change the name of the first part of the story to 'Singularity: Divergence'. I hope that isn't confusing to any of you. I just thought that we're all very used to the title Singularity by now.
> 
> I hope you all had a great New Year and a nice start into 2019! :)


End file.
